Israel censors truth-tellers

rael Bans Foreign Truth-Tellers from Entering the Countryby Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)Israel illegally compiles personal data on international activists and groups.Data obtained is used to prohibit their entry into the country, wanting truth-tellers exposing its high crimes kept out.Last March, Israeli legislation banned foreign BDS supporters from entering its territory and areas it controls.Extremist MK Yinon Magal spoke for other Knesset hardliners saying at the time "(a)ny(one) call(ing) for a boycott of Israel is engaging in terrorism and must not be allowed to travel the country freely."The measure defines boycott to mean "deliberate avoidance of economic, social or academic ties or ties to a person or other body just because of his connection to the State of Israel, its institutions or regions under its control, in order to harm it economically, social or academically."US-based Jewish Voices for Peace executive director Rebecca Vilkomerson condemned the law, saying:"On the same day as the Trump administration signed the second version of an unconstitutional and discriminatory executive order barring visitors from specific Muslim countries, Israel just passed its own discriminatory travel ban barring supporters of nonviolent tactics to end Israel's violations of Palestinian rights," adding:"My grandparents are buried in Israel. My husband and kids are citizens, and I lived there for three years, but this bill would bar me from visiting because of my work in support of Palestinian rights." "The profiling and denial of entry that Palestinians have long faced when traveling to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories is now being extended to apply to anyone who supports boycotts and other acts of conscience to oppose Israel's policies." "I'm very proud to support the BDS movement, and hope that the response to this ban will hasten the day when anyone can travel there freely."It extends beyond BDS supporters to virtually anyone prominently criticizing Israeli ruthlessness publicly, taking a strong stand for justice, opposing its apartheid viciousness.The BDS law is one of numerous other rogue state measures enacted since Israel's founding, the country an "illiberal thugoracy," according to David Rothkopf - Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies senior fellow and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace visiting scholar, saying:"Block me.""Don't let me enter Israel." "I am a Jew. Three dozen of my relatives died in the Holocaust. My father, before he fled the Nazis, was an active member of Zionist youth organizations." "By my understanding of what used to be Israel's 'right of return,' I was under the impression that I had a standing invitation to visit or even move to Israel whenever I chose."It's solely for regime supporters, not critics, especially notable ones. Israel is an apartheid police state, a democracy in name only.Rothkopf is "deeply troubled" over rights Israel affords Jews that are denied to Palestinians, millions suffering horrifically, ruthlessly oppressed."…Palestinians fully deserve a state of their own and candidly, having such a state is not only their right and what is right, it is what is in the best interest of the security of Israel," said Rothkopf.He's no longer able to support a state denying fundamental rights to Palestinians, solely for not being Jewish.He blasted its governance for pretending to want peace, continuing lawless occupation harshness and settlement expansions on stolen Palestinian land.He denounced "Israel's hard right (rhetoric and) grotesque revelry in the serial abuse of Palestinians, ranging from a 16-year-old girl to a paraplegic gunned down by Israeli soldiers" - two of countless other unaccountable high crimes.He slammed Netanyahu's stridence and belligerence, suggesting worse from his regime to come, likely greater war on speech, media and academic freedoms, how all police states operate.Rothkopf: "Netanyahu…has done more than ban (Israeli) critics…(He) turned supporters into adversaries."He's "taken one large step in the direction of the illiberal thugocracies favored by the likes of Trump" and other rogue leaders.He broke "the heart(s)" of anyone foolishly believing Israel would be a model democracy.Its 1948 war of aggression dispelled the notion for anyone paying attention to what happened - prelude for decades of harshness to come.